I spent 4 weeks at a local school district. I was able to help the dietitian at the district office, as well as getting hands-on experiences at schools throughout the district. I was able to do everything from order the food, to make the food, to serve the food and also analyze the nutrition of the food.
Information SheetsOne of my largest projects during my time with the school district was to update the information sheets that are uploaded to the website for parents to download. There are three types of information sheets: nutrition information, allergen information, and gluten-free foods. Each are provided for breakfast, lunch, and after school snacks. The nutrition information sheet updates required me to check that the recipes had been correctly put into their program, and then input the information onto an excel sheet. The allergen information sheet and the gluten-free foods list both required me to check the ingredients of the recipes, then go and find every label to the foods in the recipe. Some of these labels were already collected, but others required me to either find the product or contact the company.
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Rainbow Days & Tasting"Rainbow days" are days where all students at the school get a free salad, whether or not they bought a school lunch that day. Each student must take 3 colors from the salad bar. If they finish their salad, they get a sticker that says "I made a rainbow" (see below). I was able to participate in 2 of these days. This year, both schools grew a garden on campus. Part of the vegetables at both schools came from their garden. Along with the "rainbow days" I helped with 2 food tasting days. During these days, we made an item that was new on the menu and would be served the following day. This gave the kids a chance to try the food and hopefully encourage them to choose to buy school lunch the next day.
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In Kitchen ExperienceDuring my rotation with the school district, I was able to spend time in kitchens throughout the district assisting the staff. For about a week I helped in one of the production kitchens for the district. Because the district is focused on fresh and homemade food, these production kitchens have a staff who prepare the food for about 12 schools. The food they make is then transported by cooled trucks to the schools. The production kitchen does everything from wash, peel and chop all the vegetables for the salad bar to assemble all the pizzas for pizza day. After working in the production kitchen, I was able to help throughout the district with serving lunches. Each school has at least 2 people who serves and cooks the food, and one manager who is in charge of being cashier.
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